Hockey’s no mystery to Detective Kristin Merrill

Saturday

Mar 24, 2012 at 12:01 AMMar 24, 2012 at 4:34 PM

A member of the Los Angeles Police Department, the former Middleboro resident is heading home to Massachusettts with the L.A. Traffic in a bid for a national women’s hockey championship. A center-right wing with the team, Merrill is a detective with the LAPD’s adult missing persons unit.

Glen Farley

Her initial goal was to work for NESN. Instead, Kristin Merrill wound up working for the LAPD.

Now, the former Middleboro resident is scoring goals for the LA Traffic Hockey Club, a team that will be representing Southern California in the upcoming USA Hockey Women’s Senior C national championship at the New England Sports Center in Marlboro.

“My dad (Jim) is coming down from Maine, my uncle (David) is coming up from Connecticut, my mom (Kathie) is going out, and I’ve got high school and college friends going,” Merrill said in a telephone interview from the west coast. “When they said the nationals were in Boston this year, that definitely peaked my interest.”

As a student at Bridgewater State College (as it was know back then), a job in sports television peaked Merrill’s interest.

“When I first got out here, everyday I was, like, ‘Why did I do this?’” said Merrill, recalling her trek out west to attend the Los Angeles Police Academy in 2000. “Then I laughed because I was studying broadcast communications at Bridgewater and I wanted to work for NESN. I’ve always laughed that I left before the greatest decade in New England sports history.

“I guess they did better without me, but I actually came back (to Boston) for the Stanley Cup last year, got to go a Patriots playoff game out here in San Diego and the Red Sox in the playoffs against Anaheim.”

In the days ahead, Merrill hopes to create athletic memories of her own in a tournament the Traffic will open up with a game against the Rhode Island Panthers on Friday.

A three-sport athlete (soccer, basketball and softball) at Middleboro High School (Class of 1995), since August of last year Merrill has found herself playing center and right wing for the Traffic, a team she describes as “kind of a vast array of people.

“Most everyone has different types of jobs,” she said. “Some girls are still in college. We have two, maybe three women who are over 40 and I’m 35, but we also have some girls who are 22, 23 years old.”

Merrill’s self-scouting report?

“I’d like to pretend I’m like (Brad) Marchand,” she laughed. “I’d say I’m an Adam Oates type. I’d say I’m a playmaker. I like to pass more than shoot.”

An 11-year veteran of the LAPD, the first seven of which she spent on patrol, Merrill serves as a detective in the department’s adult missing persons unit.

“It’s interesting,” said Merrill. “I liked patrol, but detective work is a different ball game. The citizens like you. On patrol, it’s not that way at all. Here, you’re out of uniform. You’re in a suit or soft clothes and either helping people solve a case or putting someone in jail who’s hurt them.

“We’ve been involved in solving nine homicides in two years, which is pretty much unheard of unless you’re working in actual homicide units,” said Merrill. “We’ve saved people from killing themselves.

“We’ve gotten people who had basically turned into prostitutes and the families will make the missing report and we’ll actually find them and work with the prostitution unit to get the johns in jail or some sort of prosecution against these guys for taking advantage of these young women.

“People will ask us, ‘What kind of people go missing?’” said Merrill. “It’s a lot of people and the age is literally from 18 to 90-plus. So it’s busy.”

Not so busy that it prevents Merrill from pulling on a pair of skates, which serves as a release from the footwork she does as a detective and allows her to pursue a passion she had as a kid.

“I wanted to play hockey when I was little and we kind of talked to the Taunton Brewins, but I think at the time girls weren’t really playing and my mom said they were talking about me playing goalie and told me, ‘It’s way too expensive. You’re going to play youth soccer,’” said Merrill.

“I played on the ponds with my brothers (Scott and Keith) and stuff growing upand a couple of years in a women’s league in Falmouth before I came out here, but I didn’t play in high school or college.

“I do OK,” said Merrill, “but a lot of the girls on our team either played college hockey or have been playing since they were kids. So I’m kind of trying to catch up.”

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